Get together, for heaven's sake!
by Tess 4 5
Summary: This is a collection of one-chapter short stories with just one destination: Havers and Lynley get together, VERY close. M-rated for serious reasons. If you don't like that, don't read it! If you read it anyway don't blame me. FINISHED!
1. Dance

**Get together, for heaven's sake - short stories with just one destination**

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><p><strong>Usual notes and disclaimer:<strong> I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of _my _stories and the developments _I've_ let them go through.

Please let me know if I did something terribly wrong (rating, grammar, spelling...). Thanks!

Please read and review!

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><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> This is a collection of one-chapter short stories with just one destination: Havers and Lynley get together, VERY close.

I've taken some silly and funny ideas I've already had as little sketches and tried to 'produce' some hot stories. Mostly those stories are written around a little nonsense-scene I already had in my scratchbook for a while and had no idea where to put them or how to work them out so first I thought they could make nice little 299-words-stories but then (having the Little Glass Slippers already in the making) I decided to use them now - with only one target. First I had wanted to put them only as _Rese and Liam_ stories into "Cinderella" but then decided to keep them in their original form (or worked them out still a bit more (and more)) and just put very summarised and transformed versions into "Little Glass Slippers" (there with less than 600 words). I will post both stories one by one so if you want to you can read those long versions here and skip the Rese and Liam stories there but it is not necessary for the Cinderella story.

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><p><strong>M-rated for serious reasons. If you don't like that, don't read it! If you read it anyway don't blame me.<strong>

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**Dance **(also known as Rese and Liam I, LGS, ch.2)

**.**

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><p>It had been a long day full of hard work. Everything had gone wrong. The interviews did not go like they should, their colleagues had not pushed themselves as far as they could and success was far more out of reach like they would have hoped in the morning. DI Thomas Lynley and his sergeant Barbara Havers had had it all on this rainy Friday in late September - they had found the coffee vendor machine broken in the morning, the suspects and witnesses all not at home thereafter, their usual lunch place had been closed for holidays, and in the afternoon they had had to chase all three suspects when they all had fled from the detectives on their visit. One run had given Barbara a nasty scratch in her face from a whipping willow bush limb, one run had ruined Lynley's suit while he lost the fight against a barbed wire fence and the last run ended with a fugitive suspect and with both detectives sliding down a muddy mound into a swampy pool. Not to mention the dull paperwork at the end of the day with both sitting in the office in some not overly elegant spare police shell suits.<em><br>_

Since both were hungry and did not want to cook nor change clothes and go to a restaurant he invited her for some take-away fish and chips in his cosy, fireplace heated livingroom. Being too lazy to get home with the tube before dinner and too tired to find any acceptable objection she finally agreed.

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><p>Barbara had been at his house before so she knew where to drop on the couch. Immediately turning on the telly and opening her can of lemonade she started eating her vinegar soaked meal. She had discarded her sneakers next to the door right when she came into the livingroom. When Lynley came there after hanging up her jacket that had landed on his cabinet in the hall he stopped in the doorframe and watched the sight of his sergeant with her feet on the coffee table and her fingers in the fried stuff.<p>

Something in his heart made a strange _zing_ and something in his belly suddenly cringed with delight. It was good to see her so relaxed. He placed the plate with his chili-spiced fish and chips, his cutlery and the glass with his still water on the coffee table next to her feet. It did not bother her at all and munching her meal she continued zapping through his how many soever channels until she stopped at a news-show reporting of their actual case._  
><em>

_She's so at ease here nowadays. _he thought with a side glance. Years ago, when she first came here, it had been totally different and he knew she had felt very uncomfortable in this openly expensive residence. He watched her out of the corners of his eyes and sighed when he recognised the news-show accused the police of being incompetent.

"I'm so sick of this!" Barbara grumbled. He could see tears in her eyes. The whole day had been physically and emotionally straining and she simply could not keep them back. With an angry snort she turned off the telly.

Like a little psychological cure they talked about the case and the events of the day while they ate and still afterwards when they brought Lynley's dishes and Barbara's waste into the kitchen. He got two bottles of beer off the fridge and they went into his study. Barbara made no move to leave for her own home - what for?! She would be alone there. And besides she momentarily had no beer at home.

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><p>They talked, they argued, they discussed details, they drank each a second bottle of beer. And somewhere inbetween he had turned on some sweet and slow background music.<em><br>_

Tommy sat behind his desk and swung with his chair. Barbara sat, or better fidgeted, on the leather sofa on the opposite side of the room. At some point they fell silent. Her head on the backrest and her arms limp at her sides she stared at the ceiling, he stared at his desk, his hands folded in front of his chest._  
><em>

"I'm so exhausted." Her voice was choked with tears again.

"Yah, rough day today." He sighed.

"Not only today but the last year in general." She closed her eyes.

Tommy understood. He knew what she had gone through and so he just nodded. They did not need to bring the full topic up again. It only would hurt her too much.

_Something needs to be done._ he thought._  
><em>

He turned up the music a little louder, got up and moved around his desk. In front of the sofa he held out a hand to her.

"May I have this dance?" he silently asked. They had never danced before. Not even at those boring Metropolitan Police Christmas Balls.

"What?!" Startled she looked up to him. "Oh, get off, Tommy, I don't dance now."

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><p>It was the first time she called him by his name. Out of the blue, without warning, without any hesitancy at all. Sure enough, it was a bit grumpy but she called him Tommy. She pulled at his heartstrings for the second time tonight. He stopped breathing for a split of a second. No, he won't let her get away. He wanted to hold her, feel her, soothe her. He wanted her to know that he cared for her. He just took her hand and pulled her up from the sofa.<p>

"Yes, you do."

She struggled halfheartedly, too tired to object more forceful, but he just put her arms on his chest, covered her hands with one hand, keeping them in place over his racing heart, and encircled her waist with his other arm. Except once they never had been so close before. With his nose in her hair right behind her ear and his hand in her back he started to gently sway to the slow background music.

She closed her eyes. Though tensed inside with this unforeseen intimate touch Barbara soon relaxed against his chest and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. This was too comfortable to resist. His hands were drawing soothing circles on her back and his breath warmed her earlobe. She felt her tears of sorrow subside. They were replaced by little tears of comfort that soaked his shirt._  
><em>

"Barbara..." His whisper trickled into her ear. "Please stop crying."

His lips brushed her ear barely noticable. It sent an eager shiver down her spine where his hands laid spreading all fingers, pressing just a little bit to keep her against his chest.

Simultaneously they began to kiss the part that was closest to their lips at that moment as if it was the most natural thing in the world. While he whispered meaningless sounds onto her earlobe she breathed a kiss onto his stubbly jaw just next to his ear.

Both pairs of lips slowly travelled their ways on the other's facial skin until they reached the corners of their mouths.

Barbara crumpled the cloth over his chest when she felt his hands, which had slowly moved downwards, finally reached the small of her back.

They brought some space between their faces to look at each other. This was not at all what they had expected to happen. Not at all, not now, not after such a horrible day, almost not ever. He cupped her face with the hand that had covered hers until now and slowly wiped his thumb across the red scratch on her cheek. His eyes moved to her lips and back to her eyes. Those green shimmering pools told him silently that she was deeply afraid and that she did not want to be hurt anymore. They travelled to his mouth. His smile was reassuring and hopeful. Her eyes went back to his to see right into his soul. His dark brown eyes silently asked if she approved what should follow now.

Her answer was to slowly close the short distance between them and his heart started to race even more. Their lips met for the first time and her heart missed a beat.

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><p>It was a sweet and short but nonetheless intense touch. They came apart again and exchanged a look that was full of hope, approval and the wish to reapeat this, to continue this kiss. Barbara closed her eyes and expected him to come down on her lips again. Tommy did not disappoint her and slowly they kissed their souls into each other.<p>

Gently he manoevered her lips apart and his tongue explored her mouth. Concentrated on their kiss Barbara stopped breathing. She kept her tongue in the back until his reached it. They twisted and turned. She had her hands looped around his neck and she stood on tiptoes. Tommy's hands slowly massaged her bottom and stroked her hips, pressing her firmly against his undeniable desire until she moaned breathlessly into his mouth.

This made him moan in return and he made a step forward which brought her a step backward. Two steps more and the hollows of her knees met the sofa. She held on to his upper arms._  
><em>

"Tommy..." Her whisper was uncertain and still full of anticipation.

Reasonable thinking somehow was far, far away. Full sentences and whatever objections may have existed were even farther.

He took off his sweater and bathed in her adoring eye. Gently he tugged at her jumper, a silent request to get free from this piece of cloth. Barbara conceived the hint and in a second her own sweater lay on the floor next to his. With a sharp intake of breath he saw what an unexpectedly very silky, black thing she had on. Their foreheads gently bumped. Tommy's fingertips traced her collarbones from her neck to her shoulders and when his touches reached the straps of her bra he traced the thin lines downward to her curves.

Meanwhile he had continued leaving small kisses and tickling wet licks on her throat. The soft touch of his fingers made Barbara breath in short gasps and very uneven. His fingers only moved along the rim of her bra, never leaving skin, never touching her breast, but circling her chest until his hands were in her back where he finally opened the clasp with skilful fingers. He helped her off with the garment and dropped it somewhere next to them.

Tommy sighed and closed his eyes like Barbara did when her soft breast tenderly pressed into his hard manly chest.

His raspy voice was very certain and full of want. "Lie down, Barb."_  
><em>

She did. Oh, this was not at all what she had expected when she got up this morning but as she laid down on his sofa, feeling the pressure of his groin following her flush, she felt like lying down on a cloud._  
><em>

In the back of her head Barbara still was afraid of what they were going to do, what would be the next day, the next days, afraid of what would be thereafter. But exactly in this moment she banned all remaining reasonable thoughts behind a wall of overwhelming emotions. Sensing her surrender to the moment Tommy brought himself to stop thinking until the next day, or until never. Tonight he wanted them both to just be and love. No usual objections, no restraints, no difference, no problems.

Just a woman and a man.

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><p>Silently and slowly they helped each other off with their pants. They kissed and caressed every square inch of each other's body until he silently and slowly slid into her. Silently they confessed their long love for each other. Slowly they picked up pace. Silently they panted heavier. Slowly they reached a mutual climax.<p>

Silently and slowly they made love on the soft leather sofa in his study.

Silently they moaned, silently they groaned, finally they cried out each other's name. Slowly they calmed down, slowly they arranged themselves under a blanket and eventually they slipped off to sleep, pressed together in that narrow space, relishing the sheer proximity of each other.

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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><p><strong>...<strong>

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><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Please tell me what you think. Does that twin-story-thingy work? please review or E-Mail me. Thank you.


	2. Picnic

**Author's note: **This really is M-rated. Be warned of my smutty mind. Ah, well, most of you know me already...

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**Picnic **(Rese and Liam II, LGS, ch. 3)

**.**

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><p>Of all possible ways he had confessed his love for her via a phone call. Such a romantic soul he was.<p>

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><p>When Lynley had been at Howenstow to pay attention to some family business that had urgently required his presence he constantly had thought of his sergeant and his mother finally had had enough of his obviously very distracted mind. According to some absentminded answers his thoughts obviously had been back in London, thinking of a certain strawberry blonde detective sergeant, so she had sent him to his bedroom like a teenager to <em>think<em>, to explore his apparent feelings before they would continue their family discussion in the evening, before she would call him for dinner and go on with the estate matters afterwards with a more cleared mind.

"Oh, and Tommy, please - _call her!_" had been what she had advised him, shouting it loudly up the stairs. And so, after two pensive hours, he had called her.

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><p><em>"Havers."<em>

_She _never_ checks the caller-ID._ Tommy thought.

"Barbara, hello. I..." he had paused.

_"Sir?"_ Barbara had sounded a bit troubled.

"This might be somewhat out of the blue, but I've been thinking..."

_"Oh, nice experience, huh?"_ She had chuckled. As recently it had become usual she had been poking her fun at him.

"Oh, crap..." She had imagined how he raked through his hair. "I tell you now something you need to think about too before you answer."

_"Umm... yah?"_ Now she really had been curious.

Tommy had spoken quickly then. "I expect you for dinner on Friday at seven at my mother's house, if you agree. I dearly wish you will accompany me for the weekend, if you don't mind. Nothing posh, nothing stiff, just a casual weekend. Umm... and there's no need to answer right now, Barbara, but I need to tell you something." He took a deep breath. "Barbara, I love you!" With that he hung up. It had been extremely childish, he knew, but like a teenager he had deeply feared a negative answer or awkward silence.

This confession had been made three days ago.

After unbelievingly staring at her mobile and then trying to call him back immediately and three more times that day without reaching him - without him answering her calls, that is - Barbara actually had spent time with thinking and debating in her head and she had finally come to the conclusion that she reciprocated his feelings though she still was not absolutely sure what she should think of those. But it was undeniable that they were present.

She had made a decision. She would visit him at Howenstow. She would answer positive. Time and serious talk will bring on the rest, whatever that might be. _Oh, hell, I'm mad._ she thought more than once during those days.

On Friday she had finally packed her things for a weekend stay and had driven south.

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><p>Now it was seven o'clock sharp. Barbara stood at the door of the old huge house. There was just his dark red Bristol, parked in front of the building, and a short while after her knock the door swung open. She had expected his mother's butler but there stood Tommy himself.<p>

"Oh." she said flatly.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before he led her in.

"Hello you."

"Hiya."

"Nice to see you. _Really_ nice. Come in."

He motioned his chin for the bag in her hand. "Stay for the weekend?"

"Umm, well, yes. Few days off the city would be... nice." Barbara did not protest when he took the luggage.

It felt a little bit strange but it was not really awkward being here. His confession had been made already and she could tell he would know her answer too. In fact what else could it mean that she now was here? But he did not yet ask and she did not yet made an attempt to reveal her answer. The decision and the actual drive down here were much more easier anyway than now facing him in real life. Tommy showed her to her room and waited discreetly downstairs until she had refreshed from the ride. Barbara just threw her bag onto the bed and splashed some water into her face.

Looking in the mirror over the rim of the towel she said to herself "Now's the time, Barbara. Face it."

Then she slowly walked downstairs and met him in the little lounge in the back of the huge house.

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><p>They were alone. Knowing her son's intentions of wooing Barbara (he had frankly told her about his plans and she very much appreciated it) his mother had excused herself off to some friends for the weekend and the butler simply was on holiday. Tommy was entirely happy to see Barbara, she could tell by his eyes, but he still kept the phone call unmentioned. Going out through the French window they conducted nondescript small talk until they both stood in the garden behind the house where a cosy picnic had been laid out.<p>

Tommy tentatively placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him.

_Now_ it was time for her to answer. Her heart thumped heavily against her ribcage.

"Have you thought about it?" he timidly asked her without preamble.

"Yes, I did. A lot." Barbara looked at her feet. Oh well, now it turned out to have been so much easier in her imagination.

"I love you, Barbara. I've done for quite some time now, only I've found out three days ago." Tommy explained. He had a lump in his throat and needed to harrumph.

"I love you. Do you feel the same?" His voice was still raspy.

"Yes... yes, I think so." she whispered.

He raised her chin to have her look into his eyes and then he bent down to her and then they did not see anymore since their eyes automatically closed when his lips tenderly met hers for the first time.

After a while they parted slightly breathless.

"Wonderful." Tommy sighed. Barbara just smiled and nodded.

They kissed a little more and a little more passionately before they moved to the blanket and sat down for a picnic dinner during which they talked about everything and nothing and especially how both had found out about their feelings. Serious and important matters were broached for the first time ever and easily handled, playful banter and heartfelt laughter filled the evening air, some sweet, earnest apologies were made.

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><p>It was a luxurious feast in four courses with cheese and coffee in the end. The day had turned into night and they were surrounded by the light of candles and torches under trees. The sky above them was clear and the dark vault let all its stars glitter for the two persons beneath. The sky was a creature with a romantic soul.<p>

Somehow their serious talks and easy frolics turned with increasing frequency into lascivious banter until it ended with both lying on the grass, kissing passionately, with all four hands under cloth and on skin.

After they finally had wriggled out of their shirts and laid clinging to each other, skin on skin, kissing wherever lips would reach, he made another silent, desperately breathed confession, aspirating warmly into her ear.

"I want to make love to you under the stars, Barbara. I want to love you until the morning light shines through the trees. I want to hold you the entire weekend."

"Oh, yes." Barbara sighed. She could feel his arousal against her hip. But they still were in the garden. _What if his mother came back unscheduled? What if one of his siblings dropped by accidentally?_

"Shouldn't we better go in, Sir?" she defeatedly whispered back.

Tommy rolled her onto her back and carefully skidded over her. One knee already had slipped between her parted legs.

"I've dreamed of this for a long time, Barbara." He kissed her throat.

"Sir, we..."

"...are far from the point where you should still call me _Sir_." He kissed her bosom.

"Tommy." Apart from his skin she also tasted his name on her tongue. "Tommy." she breathed again, feeling his lips caressing her breast.

"God, Tommy!" she sucked in some air when his lips had finished their travel downwards and finally he had opened her jeans with his lips and teeth, pressing his nose onto the thin cloth above her already aroused lower area.

She wriggled to help him get her out of her jeans and then she delicately slowly opened the five buttons of his.

"This is killing me, Barb." he choked and got rid of his pants on his own.

While he knelt between her legs and tried to cool down by just kissing the heated skin of her belly, flicking his tongue into her navel, breathing sweet words across her curls - _wait! When had he freed me from my panties?_

"Tommy!" she whispered slightly shocked.

"I love you, Barbara. And I want you!"

Firmly he licked only once over her already wet center and produced a tiny squeak coming from her throat. His tongue licked her wet across her belly, around on her left breast, on the tip of her right breast, through the hollow of her neck, up her chin and deep into her mouth.

His arousal now was wantonly throbbing against hers. Her hip now was brazenly moving against his.

He broke the wet contact to breathlessly but still tenderly ask her one important thing.

"Do we need a condom?"

"No..." she was barely audible. She had to keep strict control of her breathing otherwise she would already have groaned out loud.

Their eyes were locked when he searched for her hand to hold it.

Their eyes kept locked when she bent her knees up and slightly changed her position underneath him.

Their locked eyes widened when he slowly found his way into her.

The cold grass in her back kept her from melting away in the heat their bodies radiated.

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><p>Tommy propped himself up and gently slid in and out. It did not take long until Barbara lost track of her breathing. She had closed her eyes and tilted her head back, savouring the warm feeling inside her lower body, feeling his full hardness inside her getting even harder, sensing his thumb playing with the sensitive spot above their connection, hearing herself suddenly moaning with delight when a first little wave of convulsion ripped through her abdomen.<p>

Seeing her lying in the grass before him, such a delighted expression on her face, brought him to the edge. His own breath was ragged and heavy now. He felt the first involuntary twitch of her inner muscles and nearly fell over.

Her hands which had been stroking his chest and arms now went onto his bum and squeezed his cheeks. Rejoicingly she squirmed under him, wound herself up to intensify the friction, pulled him down to her to let their bodies meet deeper inside.

He knew she was more than ready to tumble into the abyss with him.

He lowered his chest and kissed her throat.

"Look at me!" he rasped and Barbara's eyes fluttered open.

"Let's fall!" he demanded hoarsely and Barbara nodded.

Their eyes locked again.

All restraints were dismissed and they finally rocked hard together until both reached the yearned-for bottom of the abyss.

He groaned her name and shuddered.

She moaned a nonwordy approval and cringed.

Together they closed their eyes and finally hit the ground, leaving them entirely shattered and deeply satisfied.

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><p>"Oh, wow..." Barbara whispered while he rolled them to the side, getting off from her so she would not be smashed by him.<p>

"Yes, wow..." Tommy answered grinning contentedly, giving her a tender kiss and tucking a sweaty strand of hair behind her ear. "Wow indeed."

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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><p><strong>...<strong>


	3. Drawer Cabinet

**Author's notes:** This is a GetTogetherStory which is in three parts. I will not post it in different chapters for obvious reasons.

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**Drawer cabinet **(Rese and Liam III, LGS, ch. 4)**  
><strong>

**.**

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><p><strong>Part one<strong>

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><p>The day had a very nice start. The sun was shining brightly and they had to show up at New Scotland Yard at about nine, having only papers to work through and no suspect in the nick to be interrogated.<p>

Feeling at ease with the world and himself DI Lynley stopped at the bakery around the corner to buy some scones for himself and his Sergeant. They could very well start the day at the office with a little sweet breakfast.

Due to the tube's timetable DS Havers already was there so a steaming mug with a fresh brew awaited her DI.

DC Nkata observed with much amusement hopping around in his belly that they acted like a married couple around each other. Caring, friendly, aware of how much sugar he took in his tea, offering her his handkerchief for her to wipe the marmelade from her lips.

Work actually started not earlier than half past nine.

Work finally descended upon them at ten o'clock, when the desk officer reported the discovery of a body near the Thames.

Though in some kind of a hurry to the scene Tommy still found his time to help her on with her coat and to hold the door open for Barbara when they left the office for the car park. Barbara blessed him with a sweet smile and a very politely said "Thank you."

DC Nkata deeply sighed. _They have to realise it!_

Later at the crime scene on the embankment of the Thames he took her hand and helped her down some slippery stairs that mostly were under water at high tide. SOCO still was at work and Lafferty sent them back to their office. He would send the results as soon as possible but now he needed to do his work.

"Undisturbed, if you'd allow."

Back at the Met Tommy immediately went to his office. Barbara prepared two mugs of tea before she followed.

_And she's actually hummin'!_ In frustration Winston let his head bump onto his desk.

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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><p><strong>Part two<strong>

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><p>The peaceful atmosphere soon had its end. Once again Winston had to witness how some simple disagreement turned into a heated debate.<p>

_Like an old couple!_ he mumbled and returned to his desk. For all the money of the world he would not disturb their fight. The results could wait a little bit more on his desk. He went for lunch.

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><p>Tommy shouted that she always would be a constant stubborn thorn in his investigations and Barbara answered that exactly this would be her job - to tell him the right way when he once again would be so out of the world of the normal people once again and follow blind leads with his crazy mind. They both had paced his office and not only DC Nkata did not dare to come in. Their argument must be heard three streets down. Now they stood fuming in front of each other.<p>

Out of the blue and without an answer to her accusation he silently confessed he truly would hate to argue with her. Tiredly wiping her forehead she confessed it would be mutual. Then they stared at each other in silence. When they stood in the middle of his office Tommy suddenly realised that there was more than just a working relationship between them, that he actually had deeper feelings for his sergeant.

"Barbara?" He took a deep breath.

"Sir?" She swallowed. _Now with what will he come up now?_

"I think I love you." He held his breath.

"Bullshit, Sir." She shook her head. This had catched her on the hop.

"Absolutely not." _I'm so sure of that. _he thought._  
><em>

"You don't." _He must be crazy. _she thought._  
><em>

"Yes."

"But..."

"I do." He smiled.

"It's..." She hesitated.

"Barb?" he only whispered now.

"What?" she breathed.

They still stood an armlength apart but had their eyes locked.

"Let me kiss you."

"You..."

"Now."

"I..."

"Please!" his eyes shone lovingly. He so desperately wanted to kiss her. Just touch her lips with his. He wanted nothing else. He wanted to brush his mouth against hers, wanted to breathe a physical confirmation of his words onto her lips. Tentatively he placed a hand on her upper arm.

"I want to kiss you and show you that I love you, _how much_ I love you!" Tommy pleaded.

"You know, it's not easy to cope with that." Barbara whispered. "I've dreamed of this for years and now that you actually... it really is... we finally... I don't know how to handle..." Then her voice turned desperate. "Hell, this frightens me."

"There's no need to be afraid." he said, his expression now gentle like no man ever had looked at her. "Let me catch you, Barbara."

"Nothing I'd like more, Tommy!"

She had just finished saying his name when his lips came down to hers and they shared a sweet sensual kiss. Then they shared another one. Then they shared a kiss which slowly developed into a desperate encounter that left them both breathless.

Lucky for both that nobody had the stupid idea to knock and come in to ask if everything was alright since their loud shoutings suddenly had stopped.

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><p>Later that day they had some heavy trouble with a quickly brought in suspect and then suddenly he left her alone in the interview room with that angry man. He had to run an errand, Tommy had told her. Not only this but he did not come back later, not even much later in the evening, so she also had to do all the paperwork for this day that had started so sunny.<p>

Barbara was fuming. _Oh, he will so bloody pay for this._

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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><p><strong>Part three<strong>

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><p>The next morning an enormous bouquet of red roses stood on her desk with a card saying <em>"Sorry for leaving you alone but I'm sure you've kept things firmly in hands. Today dinner at 8. Dress nicely. I'll pick you up. Tx"<em>

The whole office was snickering and giggling and whispering and getting quiet when she came near.

_Well, that's just great!_ Barbara furiously thought._  
><em>

As soon as possible she fled the premises. Now he not only had to pay for leaving her alone the previous afternoon and evening, he also had to pay for putting that that bouquet visible to everybody onto her desk and writing such personal things in an open card everybody would have access to.

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><p>She barely said hello to his butler who had opened the door. She simply nodded and stormed through the corridor, knewing he would be in his study. With one short but heavy knock on the oak wood she already had opened the door and invaded the dimly lit room.<p>

"What the-?!"

"You!" she growled.

"I?" he snickered. _What's she up to now?_

"Yes, you. You bloody..." she was searching for a word, soft enough not to be demoted - apart from this kissing intermezzo he still was her guv, wasn't he? - but harsh enough to show him what kind of arse he was in her opinion. It was not easy, seeing the knowledge what this was about twinkling in the corners of his eyes. He could very well imagine why she was boiling - the bouquet probably had been a little bit oversized, he admitted to himself, and she would not have been amused additionally finding it on her desk in public.

"Sir!" She stressed the formal address. "Apart from your uncooperative escape - or should I call it escapade? - yesterday afternoon, the fact that you didn't return, not in the afternoon _nor_ in the evening, and apart from that bloody paperwork you allowed me to struggle with _all alone_ - a simple "Sorry, Barb!" would have done. Even if you would have placed your poncy arse onto my desk to mark your territory. But you didn't have to place those flowers there, roses, _red_ roses of all things, especially not such an enormous, probably horribly expensive bouquet and most especially _not_ placed on my bloody _desk at_ _work_ with a bloody non-sealed card."

Barbara really fumed. "_Every-bloody-one_ has read the card before I came around this morning. Oh, they really have their fun now."

She went on accusing him to be selfish, to have his fun on her, to undermine the little authority she had built in the office, that this would make of her just the little mistress of the guv, and, and, and. She really took herself into a rage.

* * *

><p>"Barbara?"<p>

She paced the room and did not really saw him getting up and coming over to her.

"Barb!?" he silently interrupted her cascade.

"What?" She whirled around to face him.

"Shut up!" Then he placed his hand in her nape and kissed her firmly.

She did not pull back, she did not respond either. She still was angry. She would not let him get away with a kiss.

When he let her go again she clouted him. Really hard. The loud smack into his face left his cheek marked deep red. The sound also made her realise that her outburst could have been a little bit too hefty.

"Oh, god, sorry, Sir, I..."

"Barb,_ I'm_ sorry." He was still smiling though his cheek was burning. He rubbed it.

"No, you..." She covered his hand on the cheek with hers with a deeply sorrowful expression in her eyes.

"I should've done all this a long time ago." Tommy whispered.

With that he encircled her and the deep kiss that was exchanged then was everything but onesided.

Barbara buried her hands in his thick dark hair when their lips met. Tommy's hands squeezed her hips when their tongues twisted. They bumped into the drawer cabinet when their hips pressed against each other's and they lost balance.

Everything became intense.

* * *

><p>Tommy stood between her legs and ground his groin into her lap in gently rolling movements while their upper bodies were pressed flush. They kissed passionately. Eyes were closed, tongues twisted, teeth nibbled at lips, breaths were exchanged. His hands massaged her back, her hands squeezed his arm and ruffled his hair.<p>

Barbara initiated the next step. Shaking fingers started to unbutton his shirt. Tommy saw this as an invitation and quickly freed her from her jumper. When she managed to push his shirt off his shoulders she admired his chest and left small soft kisses on his skin.

"Oh, my, Barbara!" he moaned.

His hands trembled and he needed her help with the bra before their bare chests finally touched. The only feathery contact sent goosepimples over their flushed skin. Barbara let her fingertips trace invisible ways across his chest and around his areola. Tommy felt brave enough to weigh her breasts with his full hands while they kissed.

Her soft flesh was covered with a lacy skin and he thoroughly caressed every inch of it. Tommy swallowed when he saw the enraptured expression on Barbara's face. Her eyes were closed, her head fallen back into her nape. Tommy gnawed gently at her throat and she moaned.

"You know what we're doing?" he whispered onto her chin.

"Hell, yes!" she moaned. "Go on! Before I come to my senses."

"You never will..."

* * *

><p>Tommy's tongue left her cheek wet before it slipped between her lips again. Barbara was senseless. Even the presence of a butler in this house was forgotten.<p>

Meanwhile and unnoticed by Barbara, who had fumbled with his belt and the buttons on his pants, constantly brushing the bulge under the cloth, he had opened the button and zipper of her jeans so now he could push them down and let her briefs follow. His hands traced down her legs and his lips trailed them. He freed her from the clothes that had been pooling around her ankles and let his own stuff quickly join the pile.

With both of her hands ruffling the hair in the back of his head he kissed her near her most secret area and whispered that he looked forward to exploring it. "But not now!"

Barbara moaned.

On his way up he somehow managed to get a condom over his member while he breathed kisses onto her skin. Barbara leaned back and had to support herself on the top of the cabinet. Somehow she had come to a minimum of sense.

"Oh, god, Tommy, we couldn't... here..." she panted, her body saying something completely different. They _could_ of course.

He reached her lips again and growled "Oh, yes, we can! Right here, right now!"

His best part pressed between her legs while he leaned himself heavily against her.

"I want you, Barbara!"

"I want you too!"

Tommy's hands slid across her thigh when he reached for her knee to pull it to his hip. Instantly she wrapped that leg around him. His length now rubbed on her secret spot and he could feel her readiness.

Barbara opened her eyes and looked at him seriously.

"I want you _now_!" This was an order Tommy willingly obeyed.

Easily he slid into her which elicited a heavy sigh from deep down her lungs.

Despite their profound desire his first slides were gentle, adjusting, almost shy, until after a while her body language requested him to pick up pace. Soon the thrusts were deeper and vigorous. The oak wood drawer cabinet seemed heavy enough to provide a solid basis for their outburst. Both were panting heavy, kissing had become impossible since they needed too much air in their lungs. Little moans turned into constant groaning. Finally she cried out.

"Oh, god, yes!"

And they both came to a mutual climax standing at the drawer cabinet in his study.

* * *

><p>"Woah..." she breathed when it had ebbed. Tommy contentedly grinned. Their bodies were covered in sweat.<p>

While he collected their clothes from the floor Barbara stood a few moments longer leaning against the cabinet to regain some composure.

Tommy disposed of the condom into the bin and covered it with some tissues.

_Futile!_ he thought. The wide grin still did not leave his face. _Denton probably has heard us anyway._

Now clad in only her jumper she said that it would be better to have a short, at best not too warm, shower before they need to get back to the office. Then she chuckled. "But why on earth do you have johnnies in your pocket?"

"The truth? I've hoped it for tonight to happen and made provisions." He cheekily grinned but also blushed.

He cupped her cheek and gave her a gentle kiss. "I had not planned to make love to you in my study, most certainly not at the drawer cabinet! But I wanted to be prepared for everything. I've thought about it to happen on the settee in the music room..."

He kissed her. "I've imagined you and me on the rug in front of the fireplace in the lounge..."

He kissed her again. "I've even fantasized us on the stony surface of the worktop in the kitchen. Which is quite similar a place like this cabinet, I have to admit."

Tommy made Barbara blush.

"But the other little rubbies are still hidden in my bedside table and so tonight I intend to need one with you in my bedroom, Barbara." he whispered. "At the minimum..."

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>


	4. Shower

**Author's grins smugly:** A shower after the following story may have _contra-productive_ effects. *snorts with laughter*

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

**Shower **(Rese and Liam IV, LGS, ch.7)

**.**

* * *

><p>It seemed they were sent away constantly nowadays. The Met had send them off from London once more. A body had been found in a small village north from Oxford and since the local police had some staff shortage and since it had been the second body in two days DI Lynley and DS Havers were sent there. This small village only had one B&amp;B in the local pub. It had been a difficult day with the local DC, highest in rank at that time, being not very delighted to have some Met officers around, on top of that two officers who were outranking him.<p>

At some point they had called it a day with this difficult officer at the station and Lynley and Havers had taken some files back to the B&B. After dinner they still sat in the deserted restaurant area of the pub and worked through things to know about the locals. When the landlord finally asked them to leave to their rooms so he could close the pub the two downed their pints and went upstairs.

"Your place or mine?" Lynley asked jokingly and Havers snorted.

"We can plaster _your_ place with the paperwork so I can go on pretending I'm on holiday in _my_ room, Sir."

While opening his door Lynley smiled. "It's a nice little village. We can come back for holiday some day."

"Haha - funny..."

He let her inside and immediately dragged her against his chest, leaning back into the wood of the now closed door. He invaded her mouth with a feverish kiss and pulled her hip against his. Totally taken by surprise Barbara slipped the files.

"Oh, hmmmm..." she murmured breathless.

It was not that she did not appreciate it. It was not that she did not know the taste of his lips. It was not that they had not kissed a few times before. It was just that he always made her weak with his kisses.

* * *

><p>Some days ago Tommy Lynley had stopped in his tracks while they had been on their way to a crime scene in a park and had confessed that he needed to stop this dance. She had asked what dance he would mean and he had answered with a very serious face.<p>

"_Our_ dance. You and me, around each other." She had diverted her eyes to her feet but he had continued. "This has been going on for too long now. Barbara, please look at me."

And she had looked at him.

"Let's dance _with_ each other." And then he had simply pulled her into an embrace and had felt absolutely no resistance when he had tenderly kissed her.

Unfortunately it only had occured that since then there was nearly no chance to repeat that kiss properly and absolutely no quiet moment to deepen their encounter in any way, and not at all in _that_ way. All the time somebody had disturbed them or they had been too busy or too tired or anything else.

Now they were alone, now they had some spare time.

"Sir, we need to finish reading those informations." Still no spare time?

"To hell with the files, Barbara. I want to -" He held his breath and looked at her, amazed by his own desperate thought. She looked back into his eyes with such a relaxed innocence, such a lovingly subtle desire of which she seemed to be totally unaware herself. His desire had grown since their first kiss, it still grew and he knew she was feeling it growing against her body right at that moment. Yes, she felt it - her eyes widened. And it was not without a certain pleasure.

"Gosh, I want to make love to you." Tommy moaned and re-entered her mouth.

All his efforts to free her from her clothes, to place his hands on more intimate parts of her body were easily stopped by a little twist here and a little turn there and another wriggle and her hands grabbing his in the end.

Tommy groaned. "Woman! Why are you doing this to us?"

"Tommy, we need to collect the files from the floor, we still need to go through them or we better have a little sleep before we continue this investigation tomorrow." Barbara herself could not believe why she could resist and how she kept her mind straight on reasonable things.

"I want to investigate _you_!" Tommy whispered against her neck.

"No!" Barbara sighed and closed her eyes. "God, yes... No! Tommy! We have a job to do..."

"We always have something to do." he groused. "Tomorrow I simply want to get up _tired_, Barbara!"

She understood his innuendo. His lips met the sensitive spot behind her ear he had found to leave her nearly helpless. It had been at a red light on their way home deep in the night when all they really had needed was a proper sleep-through night. Sadly once more each in his own bed for logical reasons.

It must have been the hottest goodnight kiss the impersonal traffic surveillance camera ever had witnessed.

* * *

><p>"Mmmmh!" she moaned but then she pulled herself away from him. "When we're going to do this... Tommy, <em>not now!<em> Get your hands off!" She giggled because his teasing hands tickled her. Again she grabbed them firmly in hers and looked in his eyes with all the strength she could muster. "Stop! Tommy, really! You know, I have not waited all those years to have it off with you at a door in a random B&B room. I leave you now. Hush! No objections! And cool off. I see you in the morning. Good night."

With a last peck on his lips she had gone to her room, had prepared for the night and no five minutes tossing and turning in her bed later she silently sneaked across the corridor and silently sneaked back into his room.

_At least we could share a bed!_ she told herself, already knowing in the back of her mind where this probably would lead.

Tommy was not in his bed, he was not even in the room.

Barbara could hear the shower in his adjoining bathroom, took the handle, took a deep breath and entered.

She had a mission. _Showtime!_

* * *

><p>Tommy had banged his head onto the door after Barbara had left his room.<p>

"How could she be so cruel?" he had whispered against the wood. _We could have moved into bed. Or get to rest on the thick carpet. Have some sleep _after_...  
><em>

Then he had realised it would be better that way. Yes, he too had been thinking about this, and not exactly in a doorframe, rather very much more romantic, maybe at Howenstow after a picnic or on the soft leather couch in his study in his house in London. Or simply after bringing her home after work, having a nightcap at her flat, getting invited to stay with her for the night. But not here, not now, not that way. He had sighed deeply.

He had taken off his clothes and had entered the bathroom. All he had needed was a cold shower. _Well, or something alike, not too cold for these old bones of mine..._

First he had brushed his teeth and then had slipped into the large cubicle. His bathroom was unexpectedly luxurious for this small rural B&B.

He had stood there for a long while after having soaped his body and just had let the water stream down his skin when he had heard the little screeching sound the cubicle door made when opened.

* * *

><p>A hand raked over his shoulder, some fingers walked across his other upper arm.<p>

"Barbara!" Tommy croaked.

"I couldn't sleep, Tommy..." Barbara whispered.

Tommy tried to turn but she hindered him from doing so.

"Don't turn." she whispered and placed a kiss onto his shoulder blade. In fact she was not yet ready to face him like this despite her earlier determination. She was not yet ready to let him see her naked. She was afraid his eyes on her skin would take away the little courage she had found.

Her hands soothed his back in the most delicious way. She traced out every muscle, her fingers followed every curve and every bone, her lips caressed the skin between his shoulders. Tommy pressed his clenched fists into the wet tiles and only turned his head to catch a glimpse of her. She always got out of his main sight. When he looked over his right shoulder she moved to the left, when he tried to see her over his left shoulder she slid to the right side. His back muscles tensed and she placed a kiss on each moving fibre. She moved a little closer and watched how her own body reacted to the almost unnoticeable touch of the tips of her breast against his back. Her intake of breath was audible even with the rushing water coming from the shower. She let the back of her fingers glide down the sides of his chest until they reached his waist where she turned her hands and then placed them fully onto his hips.

They did not speak at all. The only sound there was was the swish of the water and their ragged breathing. When she delicately moved her fingertips around his hip she heard a small repressed sigh. Placing her ear on his back and making an inch of a step forward to brush his body with hers she placed her hands on his legs. The squeezing of his upper thighs produced a deep moan she could hear sounding through his chest.

* * *

><p>"Barbara!" he choked and could not help but turn around. That was when she turned too, just having her head bent to one side, catching a little sight of him, diverting her eyes to the floor, seeing him only through her eye lashes, making him melt under this little seductive look. She did not even intend to seduce with this shy look - she simply still was not yet ready to be faced, she simply did not want to rush <em>anything<em>.

Facing the fogged partition Barbara could feel his hands doing the same caresses to her like she had done to him. His fingers traced her back and she felt the radiating heat that came not only from the warm water. He did not touch her body with his but while his hands slid across her skin, leaving burning traces, he took advantage of his height and easily kissed the top of her shoulder. She pressed her flat hands onto the glass when his tongue licked the water from her neck.

A swarm of butterflies roared through her belly.

"Thomas!" Her voice was deep and throaty when she called him by his adult name. No minimisation would have been proper, no diminutive would have suited him in this moment. His lips had reached the most sensible spot behind her ear when she finally felt his manhood softly pressing into her back. She closed her eyes savouring every sensation rushing through her whole body. Tommy heard the sharp intake of breath from her.

"Oh, yes." he groaned into her ear. "That's me."

She made a move backwards to feel him properly.

* * *

><p>"Open your eyes, Barbara!" He wiped the fog from the pane and their eyes locked in the fullsize mirror on the opposite wall of the bathroom. "Look at us!"<p>

Without any shame now Barbara watched his hands move around her body. She saw him watching the same. She saw his fingers softly exploring her breast. The image on the other side of the room was a bit blurred due to the fogged pane but the feeling and the sight of them was highly erotic. She saw his wondering eyes following every move of his fingers. Then his left hand stroked her belly and caressed the fully visible scar from her shot. She had to close her eyes once more when he traced the hardened seam. She felt not embarrassed at all about him touching this visible sign of her imperfection, in fact she simply had to pull herself together so as not to moan out loud in pleasure.

They gently swayed in unison to the melody of the water. She felt his lips nibbling on her earlobe.

"Barbara!" he silently murmured. The spread fingers of his right hand cupped her breast and his left hand finally slid deeper down across her curls and between her legs.

"Yes." she hissed and had to let her head fall back against his shoulder. "That's me."

Barbara opened her eyes again and met his gaze in the mirror again.

"Not in the doorframe." Tommy whispered and placed a kiss on her shoulder without breaking eye contact. His hand stroked the inner side of her right thigh.

"And not on the bed." he whispered with his teeth softly digging into the flesh on her neck, followed by his soft soothing lips, his eyes drowning in hers. His fingers stroked the area right from her inner left thigh.

"Not even on the thick carpet." His whisper on her ear sent a shiver down her back. She saw his eyes were closed now when his fingers slid across her wet centre.

She deeply inhaled.

"No." she breathed, her voice failing with his contact, and she also closed her eyes. "Right here."

Barbara made a step back in order to turn to him but he kept her firmly facing the shower pane, facing the mirror. His right hand lifted her leg a bit and his chest pressed hers slightly forward. The anticipation of what was to come made her shiver.

"Right now." Tommy moaned and twisted a little. His length now was between her legs, feeling her wetness, feeling her readiness.

Barbara opened her eyes again only to meet his gaze once more in the mirror.

* * *

><p>Their eyes were locked when he slid into her. She released the breath which she had not even recognised she had held.<p>

"Help me?" Tommy whispered when he took her hand and led it down across her skin to herself.

Barbara's eyes widened when she felt her own hand, guided by his, covered by his. Together they explored the sensitive area, together they touched her soft parts, his fingers alternated with hers giving a sweet pressure on her pink nub. When she saw their bodies moving, how he supported her leg, how her body touched the pane every now and then, how he now squeezed her breast with the fingers that had been moments ago between her legs, how she buckled slightly with a little shudder of lust, she forgot everything else.

* * *

><p>While she ground her back into his groin he rocked her gently. His length thrusted slowly in and out and in again. As gentle as it had been up to this pont as urgent it turned after a while. His soft touch left her breast and he held on to her shoulder. His fingers dug into her flesh to prevent him from increasing his pace that soon. His right hand held her leg in place. Tommy felt the edge coming near. He wanted to keep them for a little longer, wanted to share this heating sensation with her for another while.<p>

Never leaving the view of their bodies in the mirror Barbara bent a bit more forward thus letting him thrust deeper into her.

"Bloody hell!" he cursed and finally closed his eyes. He could only bear _one_ thing - either the sight of her restless hand on the pane, of her fingers between her legs, of them making love in the shower cubicle _or_ the feeling of her body against his, of her hip pressed into his groin, of her inner muscles convulsing around him.

Meanwhile her heavy panting had stopped. She was now moaning steadily with every move they made.

She arched her body and reached behind her. With her left hand she reached for his neck. She could feel his manhood still growing inside her and his loud groans supported the rising cramp inside. She panted her pleasure out onto the pane of the shower cubicle while a little pre-sensation rippled through her abdomen.

Steadily their volume grew louder. The tiled walls echoed their pleasure. Their synchronous moans filled the room.

In the mirror Barbara could see the delighted concentration in Tommy's face. She knew he still held himself back to keep them both on this edge a little longer.

"Oh, god..." she groaned.

In the mirror Tommy could see the enchanted smile in Barbara's face when she nodded. This was the sign for him to relax his constraint.

Both felt the centering sensation reaching for its target. Then they let go of all remaining restrictions and after a few more, deep thrusts both felt the sensation exploding and together, with locked eyes in the mirror, they groaned themselves over the edge and let the waves of pleasure crash over them.

When a final shudder went through the man behind her, causing her to shiver and moan again, Barbara let her forehead bump onto the cubicle wall and her hand slap the still fogged pane, searching for something to grip.

* * *

><p>Their bodies still trembled for a while after their union. Tommy had to steady Barbara when she turned and they shared a deep kiss pressed against the shower cubicle pane.<p>

It was some sort of cooling down and keeping the tender heat between them when they finally had dried each other. Still totally naked they found their way into his bed under the king size duvet. While the man in her arms yawned Barbara had not stopped feeling fantastic and could not stop herself from chuckling.

"Now you _will_ wake up tired, Tommy."

"Like everybody in this house." He kissed her forehead when she snuggled into his chest. "You're not a silent woman, my love."

Finally Barbara felt the blush creeping up her body.

"Please turn off the lights." she said coyly and added a throaty "Thomas."

Thomas got the point. A broad smile graced his face as he darkened the room and scooted a little closer to Barbara. He had made a decision.

Tomorrow they would get up _very_ tired.

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>


	5. Birthday

**Author's note:** Haha, yes, I've had much fun writing this - especially the first part ;-)

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

**Birthday **(Rese and Liam V, LGS, ch.10)

**.**

* * *

><p>Barbara was quite tipsy when Lynley finally knocked at her door.<p>

* * *

><p>Like they had quite often they had had another row in his office when she had tried to invite him for dinner. He had messed it up. It was Barbara's opinion that at least he could have waited until <em>after<em> the dinner. He could have paid _secretly_. He could have said she should see it as a birthday present, she would have accepted it. She would have been pleased and could have spent her money on something else. But no - immediately after her invitation he had told her that of course _he_ would pay.

_Of course, he said! Bloody rich inspector!_

Then she had objected, first polite, then much more resolute when he still did not get the point. It had ended in a harsh argument and with the hissed words 'bloody! stubborn! rich! inspector!' - she had emphasised every single word - she had stormed out of his office, ignoring all colleagues on her way out.

She had driven straight to her flat and had had her first gin and tonic at about six thirty. _What a bloody awful day._

* * *

><p>Tomorrow was her birthday and she had wanted to celebrate tonight, have a toast after midnight, have the next day for a big long sleep in and absolutely nothing else to do but lounge about at home. Was it not enough that everybody else had been occupied today? A few days ago she had cleaned her flat and asked Winston (had a date), Lafferty (had some family business), Sam (was abroad), Yasemine (had to work), Mable (had a flu), Clara (had a gig) and Gerald (would have brought his new girlfriend and they would have been the only guests so she had cancelled this invitation). She was delighted that Lynley had a free evening and had decided to ask him out today. The money she saved for not having a birthday party at her flat could very well be spent on a luxurious dinner.<p>

_But no - he had to mess it all up with his... Argh!_

She had her second gin and tonic at about seven.

At about eight thirty he finally knocked at her door.

"Ah, the inspector." Barbara slurred. "Well, well, come in, sit down! Have a drink?" She thrusted her freshly made drink into his hand, spilled a bit over his shirt but did not care but left him standing in the open door and went to her kitchen to make herself another one.

He could very clearly see that she did not at all had cooled off her anger and that she had had one or the other drink too much.

_Now, this is going to be funny. _he thought._  
><em>

Tommy carefully closed the door, made himself comfortable on her sofa and waited for her to return. And he waited for the sequel to the outburst of her anger in his office. He had originally come here to apologize that he had messed it up. He knew it must have been hard for her to invite him. She always was so restricted towards him though they were good, if not the best friends. But those personal moments between them still were rare and he savoured each one of them. To ask him out, in fact, was something Barbara would not have done easily. He knew she always and still pondered on the difference between her, as a working class woman, and him, Lord Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton. She saw that he wore expensive clothes - unlike her- , went to expensive restaurants instead of Tesco or take away, had a luxurious house and her flat...? Simply put: how rich he was and how rich _she_ was _not_.

And now he knew without any intention he had stupidly rubbed all that in.

Barbara came back into her lounge and glared at him icily. Waving her drink through the air, again spilling some of it to the floor, she grumbled on.

"I'm so sick of it all, Inspector. I'm so sick of your bloody money, Sir. Sick of your bloody title, sick of your escapades, sick of you whoring around under the guise of your loneliness."

He swallowed. She angered herself into a rage. She threw it _all_ in his silent face. (Not her drink. Her drink went into her stomach and the alcohol into her blood.)

"I'm so sick of all your backing off, Tommy, your personal indecision. I'm so sick of your hesitancy, so sick of your self-pity. And I'm so sick of me always watching you without saying something, anything. Accepting your bloody moods. I can get a mood too, believe that!"

She snorted. He sipped on his drink. This was nothing about simply paying or not paying the dinner. This was a very personal anger. He eyed her ruefully. She went on.

"I just wanted to have a _simple!_ _nice!_ evening, Tommy. I am frightened too. Of everything."

Her eyes pierced into his soul and he suddenly realised she had called him Tommy. _Of all possible ways - it must be in an argument... _He did not dare to chuckle.

Barbara spilled a bit of her drink once more when she waved the glass in a wide gesture.

"Oh, bugger! You might have recognised I was there to hear your stories. I was there to support you. I'm always there, Tommy. I always see you going away. I always wait for your return. I always mend your bloody tortured soul. I am aware of your tragedies. Guess what, Tommy? I have my own tragedies. I am lonely too."

Meanwhile she had arrived next to her sofa. Her glass was empty. Most of it was downed not spilled. She glared at him.

"I am fully aware of this bloody futile ... thing between us. And you know what, Tommy? I am very determined to get me some fun too. I am determined to now take what _I_ want, what so many countless brainless blonde bimbos had gotten, simply because they were brainless blonde bimbos, just tits and ass. Ugh!"

She took a deep breath, put her empty glass on the coffee table with a thud and stood - slightly swaying - in front of Tommy. He could tell that she was more than just tipsy and sighed. The determination in her eyes frightened him a bit. She was not her usual self anymore. He had seen her tipsy before, even drunk, but in that mood she always had retreated more. She always blushed more and hid in her shell. She never had argued when drunk and she never at all had had that wild look in her eyes.

* * *

><p>Her arms akimbo Barbara had not yet finished her speech. Her articulation though was everything but straight.<p>

"I don't care about the bloody consequences anymore, Tommy. To hell with your aristocracy, your highness. To hell with what people might say, to hell with what will be at work. Sir. Tonight... tomorrow... umm... Monday..." She nodded, then shook her head to take up the thread again. "Monday I'm going to ask for a transfer to the farthermost village on the outermost Hebrides, to be as far away from you as possible, but tonight... _tonight_ it's about _me_. Tonight I'm going to take what _I_ want. And I want _you_, Tommy. Tonight I'm going to make you m-" [HIC]

She hiccupped. She tried to ignore it.

"...make you mine, make you mine just for tonight. [HIC] I'm going to m- [HIC] -ake love to you now. Even- [HIC] oh fuck! Bloody hic- [HIC] -up! Now, even if it's the last [HIC] thing you and I will be d- [HIC] -doing together. To hell with [HIC] tomorrow."

Tommy could not trust his ears, he did not believe what he just heard, did not believe that the scenario in front of him was real. And just because he had wanted to pay for the dinner and had missed the right timing? No. This was not about who pays the bill, this was far more personal, this was far more emotional, this was deeper than he ever could have imagined.

"You!" she said. He gestured at his chest with a quizzical look.

[HIC]

Before he could say something Barbara pointed at the door to her bedroom. "Get into that [HIC] room!"

Tommy swallowed. This was a very tempting offer but she was not herself at the moment. "No." he calmly said. "You're-"

In that second he had said "no" she straddled him, in fact she had plonked into his lap a bit too heavy for a properly directed movement, pushed him into the backrest of her sofa and invaded his mouth.

Taken by surprise Tommy hesitated just for the fraction of a second before he kissed her back. It was a deep desperate kiss they shared, full of desire on both sides and he felt his own personal desire still rising though she constantly hiccupped.

But no, she was drunk.

_Not that way! She needs to be sober when- gosh she really _has_ a mission._ Tommy lost himself a little longer in this kiss before he softly but firmly pushed her away from him.

"Barbara..." he tried to calm her. "You're far too drunk. We can talk-"

She kissed him again. _Hell, this woman is tempting!_

"Mmmmh. Barbara! We can continue this tomorrow when you're sober." _She probably would not recall it at all_, he believed, nearly hoped.

Barbara pouted. Indeed she really pouted. His hands on her thighs she still sat on his lap and pouted and hiccupped so sweet and desirable like no woman before had pouted at him. With her index fingers she draw little circles onto his chest and he struggled hard not to give in.

"But..." she mumbled with a look. [HIC]

"No, Barbara." He put his arms around her and pressed her tenderly against his chest. He pulled her head against his racing heart and ruffled her hair. With a low voice he soothed her. He tried to convince her (and himself) of the absurdity of that moment and whispered nice words and pressed little kisses into her hair until he finally, after one single minute, felt her body relax and one more minute later heard a soft snoring.

Tommy sighed and carried her to her bed.

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p>Barbara woke up with a bad headache. She needed a few moments to realise that she was fully dressed but in her own bed. And there alone. Slowly the memories of the previous evening came back to her mind, causing even more headache.<p>

_Gods, what have I done?_ she thought hiding her face under her pillow.

"Happy birthday, you idiot." she mumbled into it. Then she got up, changed into a leisure suit, put on her plush tiger paw slippers and wholeheartedly yawning she shuffled into her lounge. What she needed now was a strong tea and some painkillers.

She stopped dead in her tracks by the sight that greeted her in her lounge.

On her coffee table was her tea pot on its warmer, an empty mug next to it, also a blister with aspirin and two feet in socks that belonged to a very relaxed detective inspector with another mug in hands, reading her daily paper. He looked up and smiled at her over the rim of his reading glasses. Would it not be such an embarrassing moment this sight would have melted her heart. But Barbara's mind was not yet fully awake. She once more needed a moment of collecting her thoughts and reassuring herself that in fact she had woken up decently dressed (and alone in her bed). She needed another moment in which she recognised his crinky shirt and the cushion and blanket next to him, still another moment for realising that he must have slept on her sofa. And now he had made tea for her. And provided her with the much needed painkillers. And smiled so tender. And scooted to the side for giving her space to sit next to him.

"Good morning." he cheerfully greeted her.

Barbara moaned in frustration. This is going to be a very awkward birthday morning.

"What are you still doing here?" she croaked instead of answering his welcome. "Sir."

"Breakfast." As if to emphasise this the toaster in the kitchen snapped. "Tea? Toast?"

Tommy still smiled. Barbara watched him walking into her kitchen and coming back with a tray with toast and marmelade on it. Then he poured her a cup of tea.

She still stood in the doorway to her bedroom when she recognised the two plates and cutlery on the coffee table. And the tumbler with a few daisies in some water. She could not believe that this was real.

_Have I drunk myself to death and contrary to everybody's expectations have woken up in some sort of heaven?_

"Hmph." she grunted. _He surely is making fun of me._

Barbara slumped on the sofa in the corner with the most possible distance to him. She swallowed a tablet and washed it down with a sip of her tea.

_He even knows how much sugar I want in my tea._

"Sir, about yesterday evening... I need to apologize..." she blushed and did not dare to look at him. This was so embarrassing. "I wasn't myself and... I've gone too far. Sorry."

Her voice was merely a whisper now.

Tommy leaned back and sipped at his tea. He had done a lot of thinking in the night when Barbara was peacefully snoring in her bed. And he came to the fact that her drunken mind had revealed some truths. His contemplation in the night on her sofa had revealed some other truths of him.

"Apologies accepted. And offered. In fact, Barbara, you were right with some of your accusations. To start with, I shouldn't have told you that I would pay dinner. That's not at all polite when one is invited. I'm dearly sorry."

He smiled at her but she still did not look at him. She held her mug with both hands and stared into nothing.

"You've made quite an appearance yesterday." Barbara gave a grumpy sound and he chuckled. "You were very sweet with your hiccups. And I must confess I really would like to see more of your straightforward side."

Now Barbara sharply looked at him with wide open eyes thus making him realise what his words could have implied. Now it was his turn to blush.

"No. Oh, no. I didn't mean... umm... well, I mean... you know, when you... Well, I didn't mean _this_. But I did mean you could be more self-confident sometimes. Especially when it comes to the point of standing up to me."

Then he blushed a little bit more making another confession.

"And I'd like you to continue calling me Tommy. Like you did before you... umm... Well, that other... thing... It wasn't so horrible at all, in fact I quite enjoyed the kiss, but honestly... if it would have come to... umm... well, it's something one should do with a clear mind. 'specially when it's our first time. Well, you can call me romantic but it should definitely not start that way. Yesterday evening I think it would have been too short a fun without you remembering much thereafter, wouldn't it? If you wouldn't have fallen asleep anyway before... I mean, well... Oh, bollocks..."

* * *

><p>He stopped his rambling when he recognised it and raked a hand through his hair. Tommy just watched her reaction with a shy smile. He was not sure if he had been clear enough with those cryptic words. He wanted to repeat that kiss. Feel her lips again, hold her close again. But he was not sure if she wanted that too, now that she was sober again. If at all she remembered the kiss on the previous evening.<p>

Barbara looked at him blankly, it only slowly sunk in what he had just confessed. _Is he trying to say that he actually would kiss me again?_

Needing to move and to do something she got up and collected the butter in the kitchen though she absolutely was not in the mood for breakfast now. She put it onto the table and kept standing in front of the sofa. She swallowed.

"Well..." Then she harrumphed. And swallowed again. The entire time they looked at each other. It made her entirely nervous. Nonetheless Barbara gestured towards her bedroom door. _Well, it's all or nothing, old girl._

"The offer still stands." she croaked with a pink face.

"No." Tommy whispered and held out a hand. "Not _that_ way either, Barbara. It should be more romantic, shouldn't it?"

She took his hand and they shared a deep look. His thumb caressed the back of her hand and he pensively watched the goosepimples creeping up her arm. He looked up to her with eyes that mirrored her own mixture of emotions. Suddenly she saw a tenderness she never would have expected. She also saw his fear of losing his best friend if they give in to what both felt. She saw the same hesitancy she had accused him of yesterday but felt likewise. If they overstepped the carefully maintained line between them now it could become heaven or hell between them. What if she disappointed him? What if it did not work? What if he becomes bored of her? What if it would not last? What if...?

"Bloody hell." And Barbara uttered another even nastier curse, threw all objections and what-ifs over board, overstepped this bloody line and climbed onto his lap before Tommy could even think of a reply. She straddled him in a far more fluent move than last evening, seductively brushed his chest with her breast and pushed him into the backrest of the sofa with this contact, pinned him there with an intense look and a deep inhale of air, cupped his stubbly face with both hands and initiated a passionate kiss she did not know she would be capable of.

Tommy had no objections this time - as if Barbara would have accepted any - and encircled her waist with his arms.

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p>After their first kiss they needed some air and while her cloth covered secret teased his obvious arousal with slow seductive pressure their foreheads bumped. They already panted heavily.<p>

"I do want you, Tommy." Barbara kissed him. "Truly, madly, deeply."

"I'm all yours, Barbara." Tommy breathed.

In a way they continued where he had to stop yesterday. It slowly became a hot encounter and they made love right there. Barbara did not know herself. She took his words to heart and showed him a straightforward side of her she even had not known of herself. She took what she had wanted for so many years now.

She slowly unbuttoned his shirt with her lips kissing his, kissing his jaw, softly sucking at his neck, licking his shoulder. The expensive piece of tailoring carelessly fell onto the floor. She loosened his belt quickly and opened his buttoned pants delicately slow while her tongue claimed his mouth for herself.

To help him getting off his pants she pulled Tommy up from the sofa only to push him back into the cushion when the trousers finally joined his shirt on the floor. Barbara wasted not much time with getting off her own pants before she sat on his lap again, this time feeling the warmth of his manhood at close range. Distinctly slow she rubbed her wetness across his full length to show him that she was all set.

She wasted _no_ time with getting off her sweater - this was something Tommy did for her with pleasure. His hands gently stroked the skin on her back from her hips up to her shoulders, taking the sweater with them. He threw it somewhere into the space outside their heat range. Having it off he retraced the way on her spine back down to her bumcheeks. His lips meanwhile caressed her breasts. She held his shoulders to steady herself in her arching movement that completed their connection.

Barbara finally took what she wanted - Tommy. He gave himself freely, willingly. Her pleasure was in fact his pleasure. She led him in and moaned an approval. Rolling her hip she let him slide in and out in her own increasing pace. At some point they both fell into synchronicity. His hands on her bum cheeks pulled her close onto his groin. He repeatedly pushed himself deeper until she arched her back , scratched his shoulders with all fingers and cried out his name.

* * *

><p>After an overwhelming mutual orgasm they stayed for a while in that position, both totally worn out in the end, a blanket now securely wrapped around them.<p>

* * *

><p>Barbara snuggled into his chest.<p>

"Gosh!" she breathed. _Well, this is some kind of a birthday present._

"Wonderful." he sighed. "Though I never thought that the first time you would call me by my name would be in a fervid prosecution speach..." he smiled into her hair remembering her show from last night.

"I'm sorry." she whispered and kissed his breast. Everything suddenly seemed so easy.

"...nor would I've thought that the second time you'd call me Tommy, cry it out loud in fact, would be a few hours later while making imperious love to me." His arms encircled her chest. He pulled her even closer into him.

"Oh, Tommy, please, stop teasing!" she blushed.

"No, no - it's fine by me." he grinned. Then Barbara had to yawn.

"I surely won't survive it for long when the sex with you is always so... exhausting." she mumbled onto his neck.

"No, it isn't." Tommy whispered into her ear. "But only on anniversaries I let you act in such a demanding manner."

"Hmmmm." Barbara smiled against his carotid without opening her eyes. "Macho!"

His hands slid down her naked waist to her thighs. Then he caressed her bum cheeks again.

"Happy Birthday, Barbara."

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>


	6. Mokita

**Author's notes:** We all know this scene from Divine Proportion. It's not really a Get Together story but anyway I've posted it here in this series. I've tried to write it down keeping the view on Tommy and his feelings. If you read the stories simultaneously I recommend reading this version here first.

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

**Mokita** - that which everybody knows but nobody speaks of (Rese and Liam VI, LGS, ch. 12)

**.**

* * *

><p>Lynley and Havers were on a case in a little village in East Anglia. One has reason to believe that the Met did not want them to solve cases in London so once again they were sent away. This certain case was tricky. The unusual shotgun murder of Samantha Walthew, an interior decorator, seemed to be linked to the rape and subsequent suicide of her sister fifteen years ago after which the perpetrator mysteriously disappeared. Something lingered in the air but the two detectives could not catch hold of it. The whole village seemed to know something and Billy Verger, the perpetrator's son, seemed to be a key figure. He definitely knew something <em>important<em> but did not speak, nor was he actively helping. To crown it all he had tried to take his own life.

* * *

><p>For efficiency and saving of time Lynley and Havers investigated seperately. Havers drove to the pub where she wanted to interview the landlady. Lynley and the computer specialist - in service of the local police - sat at the PC of Billy Verger, zapping through his photographs once more.<p>

Suddenly they had found something. The specialist had edited the picture of the victim and one could see Billy with a camera reflecting in the kitchen window of her house. A few clicks more and the murderer with a rifle in his hands appeared behind her - it was PC Garrett. The local officer who had contaminated the scene with his boots. He obviously had left the footprints during his crime and not only after its detection.

Tommy's breathing stopped. His heart stopped. His blood left his face. His hackles raised.

_Barbara is in the pub. Garrett might be there too. She is in danger!_

Then he shifted in gear, his heart started to pound on high speed, he put out his mobile and called Barbara.

"Havers?!"

"Where are you?" His voice was full of concern.

"I'm at the pub." This put Tommy on the alert.

"Who's there with you?"

Havers told him who was sitting around. Garrett was not amongst them. Lynley was relieved and gave an order.

"I want you to get out of there - as quickly and as quiet as you can!"

Havers did not seem to understand the urgency. She did not know what he knew.

"Err... I... I don't understand, Sir, umm..."

Lynley quickly told her about the discovery on the photograph. They were totally unaware that PC Garrett had come and closed them all in at the pub."

"Uh, how did he?" Havers asked and then she paused. She had recognised Garrett. Lynley could hear her swallowing.

"He's here." Then she disconnected the line.

"Havers!? Hav- ... Barbara!?" Lynley was on the verge of a panic. He closed his eyes briefly and sharply inhaled to get some oxygen into his brain. _I need to keep calm. Rescue routine step one._

Lynley turned to the specialist and switched into professional mode. "Call the armed sponsor unit! Get 'em to the Queen's Head as quickly as possible."

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p>His poor old car creaked when he drove to the scene like a horseman with a vengeance, drifting around the corners. The only thing on his mind was Barbara and the danger she was in. <em>How could I get her out of the pub? Is<em> she protected? Is he armed? How far will he go? Will the armed sponsor unit arrive in time? <em>What sort of horror does she relive? I need to be faster!_

The minutes of this short distance ride to the pub stretched and it felt to him like one of his longest rides to a scene.

DI Lynley arrived in the same second the cavalry screeched into the driveway. All jumped out of the cars and immediately hid behind doors and wings. Loud voices could be heard from the pub and it did not do good to Lynley's mood. He was sweating in fear.

_It shouldn't be Barbara in there!_

She had just returned from her recuperation time off after she got shot. She probably still was traumatised. No, she _definitely_ still was traumatised. Tommy knew that she did not sleep well - he had heard her pacing her room the previous night and nearly had knocked on her door to ask if he could do anything for her. He would have loved to sit the whole night to talk about her fears, her feelings, her recuperation but he had not wanted to invade her privacy. Now it could be too late.

_Don't even _think_ of that, Tommy!_ he said to himself.

With a few short sentences Lynley quickly briefed the Chief of the armed forces.

"...and he's taken some hostages, including my sergeant."

"Is he armed?" the Chief asked.

For a second Lynley gave him a deprecating stare. _Be polite._ _He couldn't know it.  
><em>

"She. No." _She hates weapons. You've no idea!  
><em>

From the other car a uniformed was waiting for orders from his Chief. "Sir?"

For now they would stay in position. Lynley worked through fragments of rescue routines to stay calm and tried to reassure himself that everything would be fine. _She will be fine._ He called her.

But Barbara did not answer.

Tommy cursed and begged all available gods for help. He hoped she would cope with-

A shot sounded through the air, screams followed, rumbling could be heard.

Tommy immediately jumped, escaped the hand of the unit's chief who was trying to hold him back and quickly moved forward into the direction of the pub. He needed to get there. He needed to get _into_ the pub. He could not stay outside. He needed to be there with Barbara. He needed to help her. He needed to-

_Stay rational, Detective Inspector!_

At the car in the front row he ducked and covered again. Superfluently he shouted at the specialists that they should stay down. _As if they would not know how to do their job. Keep calm, Lynley!  
><em>

Tommy needed to busy himself with anything. He could not do nothing. He still held his mobile and so he tried to call her again.

Still no answer.

_This is no good sign. Or is it? Is she able to talk him down? What the bloody hell are they doing in there? And why the fucking hell do those armed blokes stay outside? Why don't they do something? We can't just watch that damn door!_

Deeply distraught he turned to the Unit Chief. The ever so calm aristocrat desperately needed to do something. Anything for goodness sake. He needed to move. He could not stay outside when Barbara was inside, unarmed, unprotected, in danger.

"I've gotta go in!"

"Absolutely no way!" the Unit Chief calmly answered.

Tommy tried to outrank him. In fact he was superior - if it was a different situation. Right now he had to stay outside and obey to the orders of the uniformed. He could barely cope with that.

"If anyone goes in it's us." Tommy was told.

Teeth-gnashingly he accepted that. After all he also was not armed, he also did not wear a bullet-proof vest. In fact he also was not really trained for situations like this. A few minutes passed, more cavalry arrived, more fears built inside his belly.

_I can't lose her. She's my anchor._ Though he had tried he had not yet told her after her recovery. In actual fact he was a bit occupied with the loss of his baby and the leaving of his wife. _But I will tell her when this horror is over._

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p>Suddenly all went fast. A glass splintered, another shot was heard and without thinking Tommy immediately started to run to the door. He could not stay outside anymore. He <em>had<em> to act. He _had_ to get to Barbara. He did not think about the danger. He had not in mind anymore that he was unarmed, unprotected, untrained. His mind was filled with the wish to get his sergeant out of there.

While people inside the pub started to scream and the rumbling had started again Tommy could hear Barbara's voice.

_She is alive! _His heart made a joyful jump._  
><em>

A loud bang announced that the door to the pub was torn open and crashed at the wall and then the landlady stormed out screaming.

"Get in there! Help her!"

"Go, go!" The armed officers were put in motion.

They all rushed in, weapons were directed to PC Garret who laid on the floor, arms held up in a defensive attitude, a furious DS Havers kneeling on top of him, punching him as hard as she could. She grumbled and cursed. Her angry fists landed on the defenceless man, slapped his face, beat his chest, hit his head, battered his arms.

For a second Tommy rejoiced seeing her so wild and angry and so very alive but she would not stop her violence by her own will or ratio. She even still kicked him when Tommy pulled her up and away from the old man. All the way out of the pub she was still grumbling and fighting, she even fought against Tommy's arms when he dragged her away. He knew it was all her outburst of emotions, triggered by the events of a few seconds ago. She was not really fighting him but her own demons so he let her struggle against his firm grip.

_I need to get her out of here. Away from that man, away from that scene, away from that rifle.  
><em>

" 't's okay." he said trying to calm her. _She is alive. My brave Barbara._

Tommy dragged and pushed Barbara out of the pub. Reaching broad daylight she finally stopped her rage. His own trembling hand soothed her shoulders, his concerned eyes watched her trying to regain composure but she was visibly on the edge of coming apart.

It was his own heartbeat that thundered through his ears. He did not recognise how the cavalry handled the situation inside, in fact he did not care at all. All that mattered there and then was the vulnerable woman in his arms. The woman who had faced a rifle for the second time in too short a sequence. Tommy pulled her against his chest and put one arm around her shoulders. His chin rested on her head. To shield her securely he lifted his other arm and moved Barbara away from the door, away from the pub.

She sobbed and sobbed. She shed no tear. She fought for air and still processed the moment. She only sobbed.

Tommy was sure that there would be a break down soon. She needed to cry. She _had_ to cry. She could not bottle it up again and again. He was there to help her. He was there to shield her. This time he was there to protect her.

With all her fearful desperate might Barbara clung to his arms, wrenched his sleeve and tore at the cloth. Her eyes still stared into nothing, probably seeing the previous scene again and again and again.

Relieved to have her out of there, relieved that this horrible moment was over, relieved that she was alive Tommy caressed her head with his cheek and let a few tears fall freely. The officers and medics around them seemed to be in a different universe. Nobody cared for the two detectives and they did not care for those around them. In fact Tommy did not give a damn what anybody would have thought about the DI embracing his Sergeant in such a tender way. Nobody important was there but Barbara.

He tried to shush her gently and then she finally fell apart. Turning her face into his chest, pressing her fists onto it, thus hiding her self away from the cruel world, she started to cry heavily. Tears and snot soaked his shirt but he did not care. Heavy sobs trembled through her little body which felt even smaller than ever, worth and needed to be protected.

" 't's ok." he whispered once more when his hands drew soothing circles onto her back. While she cried her eyes out she was held by him in a tender and warm embrace. This was not between two officers, this was between Tommy and Barbara.

He probably never would tell her that he was entirely happy in that moment to have her back, safe and sound in his arms. He placed a gentle kiss on top of her head which she probably had not felt.

And he probably never would tell her.

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p>During this hostage-taking DI Lynley had not spent a single thought at his wife who had just left him or at the difficult times the still married couple actually was in. His only thoughts had been with DS Havers. Tommy only felt that he could not bear to lose Barbara too.<p>

After the formal funeral they still stood there at the gate in the sun and finally exchanged a few words about how she had felt after her first shot and how she now had felt in this pub. Barbara said that something had shifted. Approvingly nodding (and a bit proud too) Tommy told her that she appeared to be stronger.

And she was. Leaving the graveyard she went ahead and after a long pensive stare in her back he followed.

Something deep inside Tommy had shifted too. Only he had not yet realised it. And he did not tell her about how he had felt for her during that hostage drama. He knew that Barbara meant more to him than just a colleague, maybe he even knew that she was more than his best friend, but he could not quite name it yet. He blocked out his turmoiled feelings like he always did when they became too irritating.

* * *

><p>In silence they went back to the car and back to their daily routine.<p>

Life went on like it always did.

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>


	7. Fairy Tale

**Author's notes: **This is the Barb and Tommy version of the inserted story in Little Glass Slippers, chapter 23, somewhere near the end. I suggest you read this here first and then you go on and read the last (monumental!) chapter of LGS. I will update LGS a bit later than this here anyway... ;-)**  
><strong>

Enjoy it!

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

**Fairy Tale **(Rese and Liam VII, LGS, ch. 23)

**.**

* * *

><p>DS Havers and DI Lynley sat in his study on the sofa next to a fire that warmed the room. Files and photographs - very ugly photographs of chopped up bodies and blood-smeared walls and mattresses - were strawn all over the table in front of them. There was just a little space where two now empty pizza boxes stood. Both leant back into the cushions, tired and sated. Tired of that extremely disgusting and difficult case, sated by their pizzas.<p>

They had not spoke a word since about half of their pizzas were eaten. Barbara had randomly shuffled through the papers, avoiding the pictures, and Tommy had played with his mobile phone, texting something with his brother. He apologetically had told Barbara who that was and what it was about. He had thought he owed her that. And something deep inside him had whispered that she needs and deserved to know that it is no other woman.

"Some TV?" he eventually asked her and turned it on. Zapping through the channels he switched to the famous _Edinburgh Files_ in which William 'Liam' MacKenzie, an unbelievably rich inspector, policing for interest and fun, and Therese Gibson, his female working class sidekick, were solving cases in Scotland.

"Oh, stop here." Barbara said and her fingertips briefly touched his knee where the hand with the remote control laid. She blushed, immediately retrieved her hand and hoped he had not felt her spontaneous touch. "I like those series. It all goes so easy in it. It's so ... soothing and ... umm ... sweet..." _And they must have peeped into our lifes and transformed it onto screen!_

In fact Tommy's knee was burning from her touch. He threw the remote between them as if he wanted to shield himself from the sweet pleasure her rare and mostly involuntary touches always did to him.

* * *

><p>At that moment the two protagonists stood bent over an opened body in the morgue and were accidentally rubbing their shoulders, both embarrassed glancing at the other.<p>

Tommy rolled his eyes. "They're always close, aren't they? And always close to being closer."

"Mmh." Barbara answered._ Like we are. Never taking the last step. Oh, as if he ever would, as if I ever dared..._

Involuntarily she sighed and earned a raised eyebrow from her DI. He slightly leant over to Barbara and said low but nonetheless a bit teasingly amused "Are we a little romantic, hm?"

She grimaced. _Of course, I am._ "Tush! There can be a friendship between a woman and a man that would not end in bed. They have gone through so many years together, one could do that without being romantic." She blushed. _Like _you_ do._

_Like we do._ he thought. _And I would so very much like to get romantically involved with you even though you're my best friend and colleague. Ah, yes, the command chain...  
><em>

"Well, they are detectives," he said. "They _shouldn't_ get romantically involved. They are on two different steps of the command chain. He is her superior after all."

"Well, it's not totally forbidden. Actually it just will not be well-received." She blushed a little more. "They _could_...!"

His head shot up to look at his Sergeant but she kept her eyes on the screen. _What is she trying to imply with that? Is she trying to say anything with it at all or is she just stating a fact? Or hinting at the obvious? They could... Would _she_...? Should _I_...?_

Tommy turned his face back to his widescreen TV to get away from this irritating commotion in his mind and saw another long, pensive look between Rese and Liam. That was how they meanwhile addressed each other in that show. _She still calls me Sir. _"Isn't this a bit unbelievable? All those looks and accidental touches, she even calls him by his name and still _nothing_?"

_You really do ask _that_, Sir?! And yes, I got that stinger and still will call you Sir. I need to keep distance. I need to keep you out of my heart. Oh, bloody hell, it's too late anyway. I should go home._ "And with all the tension between them..." Barbara added.

"I think, in reality this never would work." Tommy sighed.

Barbara's heart fell. _There. Forget it, Barb. He will never..._ But her heart skipped a beat when he went on speaking.

"I actually do think that in reality they meanwhile would have ... err ... resolved their little ... umm ... private case. Nobody could stand her eyes. The way she always looks at him, telling him with her eyes what she feels. He must be dumb or a coward." _A coward. Like me._

* * *

><p>Now the screen showed the two fictional detectives on a hill in the Highlands, the wind ruffling through their hair, drizzle soaking it. Liam put his coat on her shoulders and Rese looked at him as if she was going to kiss him.<p>

"That's unrealistic." Barbara croaked and covered her hoarse voice with a cough.

"Yah, I think _you_ would have kicked me in the shin when I would have dared to offer you my coat." Tommy grinned and nudged her shoulder with his. Unintendedly, or so he tried to make it look like, he had slid closer with this gesture. Barbara very well recognised that he came nearer. The remains of his aftershave and the scent of him on an evening after an exhausting day like this, this not unattractive very manly and very tommy-ish scent lingered in her nose and made her a bit more confused. She harrumphed.

"_I_ would have been appropriately dressed, Sir. _I_ definitely would not run about in the Scottish Highlands in a thin jumper on such a day, without any coat, not even in that thickly knitted pullover you have." _I'd love to wrap _that_ around me! _A sudden bolt of warmth spread through her chest when she thought of wrapping this special one of his clothes around herself._ Naked underneath... Gods, Barbara, behave!_ She blushed again.

Today's episode of that show was a pain. If Barbara would not have known that they had stopped broadcasting that show before the 'private case' of the protagonists was solved she would have said it would happen in this episode. At the moment they showed two suspects hiding somewhere and whispering with each other. Barbara and Tommy both could not really hear what was said so both their hands suddenly met on the remote that still laid between them.

"Oh, sorry." both said simultaneously and laughed a bit nervous. Barbara once again had a lump in her throat.

Tommy's left hand was gripping her right hand that held the control. He kept holding her hand. He only let it go when he tentatively had taken the remote off it with his other hand, his eyes never leaving hers. Her heart went so fast and pumped her blood rushingly through her veins, in that moment a bomb could have exploded next to her, Barbara would not have heard anything. She forced her eyes back to the TV screen.

* * *

><p>Visible clouds of breath showed the audience that there was a cold night in the Highlands and those clouds picturised how Liam whispered onto Rese's nape and into her ear.<p>

"That's highly unrealistic again. When somebody would speak to the other in such an erotic way one would not have been able to concentrate on the suspect, on _anything_ anymore." Barbara murmured. _Like last month when you simply breathed into my neck standing so close behind me in that shed I had been able to feel your warmth and your chest that constantly touched my back when you inhaled. That day when you berated me to be unfocussed. Oh, I was... and _how_ I was..._

"Oh, and look now, how she accidentally falls against his chest. And then - nothing. He should have laid an arm around her. At least." Now Tommy looked at Barbara. _Like I should have done__ last month when we stood in that shed and you distracted me from the suspect on the other side on the street when you leant back into _my _chest._

Barbara held his gaze. "That wasn't accidentally."

Tommy swallowed but Barbara went on though she blushed again. "She did it on purpose."

"Well, he should have taken her in his arms anyway." He needed to divert his eyes back onto the screen. He tried to change the subject. "I really can't understand why they have such a high solving rate. They are distracted by each other the entire time."

"Right." she nodded. "And still they constantly argue."

"Well, this might be their secret. _We_ do argue constantly as well and look at _our_ solving rate!" Tommy winked and Barbara playfully slapped his chest with the back of her hand. She briefly chuckled. As she was leaning forward now he could see another little blush creeping down her neck. He suppressed the urge to run his fingers down her spine.

* * *

><p>After a short period of silence, while both real detectives watched the fictional detectives on the screen interviewing some suspects and - of course - coming to a solution, Barbara remarked that they probably would go for a pint after that case and that <em>he<em> is going to pay.

"Like he always does. Mister Rich..."

"Maybe he is only trying to be gallant?"

"Maybe he's just showing off his money?!"

"That's not true, Barbara." Barbara turned her head and they shared a long and pensive look.

_He is referring to himself! He is the entire time.  
><em>

"Maybe it's just because he thinks that _money_ is the last thing that does matter?" _And yes, I give a damn to it.  
><em>

Barbara averted her eyes to her hands and leant back, thus again, now on her purpose, resting a little nearer to Tommy.

_That wasn't accidentally._ he hoped and put his arm around her shoulder. _Neither was this._

As the show went on because it just had looked as if they would have been on the right path Barbara became a bit sleepy and finally her head fell onto his shoulder. She had fallen asleep and soon started snuggling into his chest with her arm around his waist, her nose dipped into his soft cashmere jumper and her legs propped up on the sofa next to her.

* * *

><p>Tommy had muted the sound and was slowly drifting into sleep himself when a little snore from her woke Barbara with a start and she suddenly looked up. Her eyes were a bit glassy and her voice low from sleep.<p>

_Adorable!_ he thought.

"Oh, sorry, Sir, I-"

She was not able to move away because he kept holding her tight. Now he interrupted her apologies with his lips on hers. Involuntarily she returned the sweet but brief pressure.

"That's very real." he whispered and they exchanged another slightly longer kiss.

"It's a dream, Sir. We-" Tommy put his finger onto her lips and silenced her with a reassuring and also pleading smile.

"This must be a dream, Tommy!" she breathed.

"Then be quiet, Barbara. Don't wake us up."

They shared another and another gentle kiss and one more tender kiss that eventually turned deeply intense.

Barbara could not recall how they ended up on the thick carpet on the floor next to the sofa in front of the fire, and she could not care less. Somehow they had gotten rid of their clothes and deliberately slowly had sunken down there to make love.

* * *

><p>One by one they had piled their garments on and next to the sofa until they had laid there naked, gently exploring the other one's body. Every dip and every hollow, every mound and every curve, every muscle, every tendon and every nerve had been touched by tender and cautious and yet so curious fingers. Lips had traced scars, had kissed skin. Teeth had nibbled earlobes and buds and noses, tongues had left wet traces on both. They had teased and caressed each other for hours until no square inch had been left untouched, until she finally had let him into her longing wet and soft sanctum, until he finally had slid his yearning firm and upright manhood into her, until they finally had united their bodies. It must have been an eternity of caresses later when the thrusts, with which they met each other repeatedly, turned slightly faster, as much as their panting did. When she arched into him, when he thuddered against her, when they completed their connection with a shared climax they softly moaned each other's names in pure pleasure.<p>

* * *

><p>Deeply satisfied and very, very content she closed her eyes to stay in that dream when Tommy covered them with a warm rug. He had no intention to leave that cuddly place next to the now dying fire, next to the woman he loved and who seemed to return his love with an intensity Tommy never would have dared to dream of.<p>

"The _London_ Files on the other hand aren't so absurd at all, are they." Tommy gently whispered into Barbara's ear when he laid his head down next to hers.

"They aren't." she breathed. "Not a particle."

Tommy placed one arm around her waist and held her close to his body. He intended to never ever let Barbara go.

* * *

><p><strong>.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>. FIN .<br>**

* * *

><p><strong>Author finally grins ;-)<strong>


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